


jiro nara

by niosism



Category: Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi | Spirited Away
Genre: Gen, POV First Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-10
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-17 08:33:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29963697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/niosism/pseuds/niosism
Summary: One day, I chose to be spirited away.





	jiro nara

One day I decided to do something new and risk my life. 

I was bored and young and I thought that nothing I got myself into could make me lose my life. It could be dangerous, and I could look at peril in the eye and shiver, but then I would puff up my chest and growl out a “fuck you” and I would be saved. I was young and all about attitude, but slowly, thanks to the movies I began to watch, I started to see that life wasn’t all about appearances. I felt sorry my parents didn’t have such inspiring movies as kids. How did they learn anything about life? Sometimes it made me angry at them for not knowing better than their own children, and this was another reason I decided to do what I did that day.

When the heat-haze began to become visible in the horizon, and the sun glowed an orange that did not hurt my eyes when I looked at it, I checked to see what my parents were doing, and noticing the busy look in their eyes as they talked loudly over coffee at the dinner table, I made my way behind the house and snuck outside. 

We did not have a yard, like most people in the countryside, and yet the bat-eared, fluffy-tailed dog we had almost never left her area, a distance of about a block around the house, except when she felt like she needed to travel beyond her comfort zone, and we wouldn’t see her for an entire day before she got hungry and came back. I liked whenever she did this because not only did I feel like that sometimes too, but it reminded me that even dogs should have the freedom to roam free if they choose. 

It wasn’t dark yet but the sky was beginning to change colors, and change the colors of the objects on earth with it. I liked to think that everything affects another, and there is no one thing that can exist by itself; everything has an effect on something else no matter how big or small. When I left home, even if my parents didn’t find out or didn’t worry, my bed would be empty, and my teacup would stop cracking with my firm grip. When I faced the outside world, not only would my shoes get dirty, but I might be attacked by a wolf, or accidentally step on a bug. I would leave footprints whether I liked it or not. The footprints could dry and become hard like a fossil, and my existence would be preserved in that way forever, and I would never know it.

When I stepped outside, much to my surprise, Nina began to bark. I have been surprised with her many times recently, and my parents think it’s because her mannerisms are changing due to old age, but I am sure it’s because she knows more than we give her credit for. Our world is changing, and Nina knows. But she would never bark at me, until now. 

“Shhh, Nina, shh”

I crouched down to pet her and hopefully stop her barking. Thankfully, it worked, and her small fluffy body seemed to wiggle as it made its way inside. Even if she did alert my parents, they would never understand. 

The one-person straw plane sat in the shadows, behind some bushes. It was a simple machine that carried a huge weight (me). The wings were fairly short for a flying device, and the whole structure was so ancient in style that whoever had created it likely did not have much knowledge of mechanics or engineering. How could such a thing even fly? It was light enough that I could push it around without much effort, like a baby carriage or a shopping cart, and the wheels would creek like a rusted door as I moved it into the clearing. If it did fly, it would be purely due to magic. I had never seen my father use it, and so had no reason to believe it would take the skies, but I did. In that moment, on that day, I had the conviction to know that it would. 

Jumping inside and taking a firm hold of the steering wheel (it wasn’t a wheel, but more of an inverted trapezoid, like a remote to a video game), I pushed my foot on the accelerator pedal. Having guessed correctly, the one-person straw plane began to move as if on its own (because I did not hear any motor or smell any smoke) and my giddiness at this achievement, and the one soon to follow, increased by the second. The faster and faster it went, the more and more it would incline, as if on command, and lift the front of it off the ground like a firework. I did my best to keep pressing on the accelerator pedal because there was no other choice in my mind but to fly, and so I did. 

When the plane took off and I felt the cool breeze on my face, the sky itself kissing my cheeks, I began to laugh. I wanted to go somewhere no one else had gone, and so I set my mind on a film that had captured my heart and calmed my soul. It was a film about a girl who found herself in a world of spirits and witchcraft, and somehow managed to break a few of the most durable curses by making some unlikely friends along the way. I focused vaguely on the plot or the characters, but rather what would come to mind was the simple details that made the film memorable; the sizzling food, the bathhouse, the warm evaporating water, the smell of the sea that seemed to surround my entire being. When I opened my eyes, I was flying above a foggy meadow. It was hard to see, especially as the sun was setting, and so I decided to land.

I managed to steer the plane the way I wanted it to go with great difficulty. Once the impact made me jump inside of it and hit my head against the cover that was there simply in case of rain, snow, or the occasional bird dropping, the plane came to a stop after a few bumps and one very long creaking noise. I’m sure anyone within the mile could have heard my landing, maybe even all the way back home. Only when I stepped back into the earth did I realize how nervous I had been. My belly was still cold from the feeling of being suspended on air, and my feet trembled. Taking a deep breath to settle myself, I walked only a short distance before seeing a light just ahead in the middle of the heavy fog. So of course, I walked right to it.

I could barely read the sign due to the fog and the fact the sun had set over the horizon at this point, even if it was right in front of me, so I was only able to make out “Souvenir Shop” from all the different lines and symbols scribbled onto the wooden board. When I entered, the sweet-ringing of a bell filled my ears. Inside was clear and well-lit and I was finally able to know where I was. An unbridled joy filled me from my chest to the tips of my fingers as I looked around in awe. I barely noticed the boy that stood behind the cashier and smiled at me, stepping down from his spot to come and greet me. He was the only one there.

“Hello, welcome to Jiro Nara’s souvenir shop. I am Jiro Nara, nice to meet you.”

The well-mannered boy bowed in greeting and, flustered and overwhelmed by all of the beauty that filled my eyes and ears, I not only bowed once in return, but three times. I was at a loss for words.

“Haku?”

The boy smiled, his hair came up to his shoulders, and his eyes reminded me of a cat’s, as familiar to the character in the film I so loved. The only difference was his clothes. He was dressed like a waiter at a restaurant, with black, red, and white details. Just seeing his face made me want to cry. 

“Yes, my real name is Jiro Nara, but you can call me whatever you like. Most customers like to call me Haku, because, well, the movie is quite touching.”

I wanted to tell him that he was touching, nevermind the movie! I decided to call him Jiro to respect him being the real Haku, and the name he went by in this world.

It was an odd couple of hours in the souvenir shop. It felt like only a few minutes, but when Jiro told me that he was going to be closing the shop soon, I looked at him with a face full of confusion, and he said:

“You walked into my shop at six in the evening. It is now nine into the night. You’ve been here for the past three hours.”

I could only mutter an “time went by so fast.” and think of how I mostly just looked through the books and various different goods that populated the shelves; deep sea crystals, ancient manuscripts, porcelain dolls, greatly decorated clay figurines, and dust upon dust, or rather, more neglected things that were gathering dust. 

I didn’t want to leave this magical place behind. I didn’t know if I would ever be able to find it again.

“Don’t worry”, Jiro started, as if having read my mind. 

“I’m not going anywhere.”

For some reason, that was all the answers I needed to hear. As I gathered myself to leave, I smiled at the Totoro figure standing on top of the cashier table. A neat and bubbly creature that I swear smiled back at me. 

“What’s Chihiro up to?”

Jiro Nara smiled.

“Off in her adventures with spirits, of course.”

“Always on that spiritual journey.”

I bowed to him and told him I wouldn’t forget any of this, even if I didn’t come back.

“I won’t be forgotten.” He said. “I’m always around.”


End file.
